O'Neal was the passenger in Hayes' Hummer H2 on April 9 when authorities say Hayes shot Smith eight times -- including seven times in the back -- killing the retired football star during a Lower Garden District traffic dispute. Called as a state witness on the fourth day of Hayes' high-profile murder trial, O'Neal staunchly defended the conduct of the tow truck driver he knew since high school.

"I didn't do anything wrong," O'Neal said, "and I don't think Mr. Hayes did anything wrong. ... As Mr. Hayes sits before me, I know an injustice is being done."

O'Neal told defense attorney John Fuller that he was "heartbroken" and "tore up" over his close friend's incarceration and lamented Hayes' separation for the past eight months from his son, C.J., 6.

Prosecutor Laura Rodrigue, lifting an enlarged family portrait featuring Will and Racquel Smith and their three children, told O'Neal the couple's son Wynter would be having a birthday Friday without a living father.

"When we talk about social injustices, ask yourself how Wynter's birthday might work out tomorrow," Rodrigue said, "with his father dead and mother here at a murder trial."

O'Neal replied that Racquel Smith, who was shot through her legs in the April 9 encounter, should ask herself, "Did her husband bring about his own demise?"

The statement brought gasps and an audible cry from the Smiths' section of the courtroom.

"I'm just asking," O'Neal continued. "At no times did this man (Hayes) get angry or attack someone else out there at the scene of this crime. We didn't insinuate any violent intent to anyone out there."

Rodrigue scoffed at the characterization of Hayes' behavior as harmless, noting that he was the only person at the crash scene to step out of his vehicle holding a firearm.

"There was no reason for Cardell to be aggressive, because he already had a gun in his hand, didn't he?" she said. "He could sit back as long as he wanted. He had the upper hand."

Defense attorneys Fuller and Jay Daniels and prosecutors Rodrigue and Jason Napoli continued another daylong tug-of-war for the sequestered jurors' favor. The panel will have the critical task of deciding whether Smith or Hayes acted as the primary aggressor, or whether one of their behaviors equates to a reasonable measure of self-defense.

Under Louisiana law, a homicide can be deemed a justifiable act of self-defense, "if committed by one who reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life or receiving great bodily harm, and that the killing is necessary to save himself from that danger."

O'Neal spent three and a half hours on the witness stand Thursday, insisting that he and Hayes felt their lives were at risk from the moment they rear-ended Smith's vehicle and two angry men spilled out, joined by another man from the car in front of them.

Smith, the former Pro Bowl defensive end, was not recognizable to the men who slammed into the back of his luxury SUV, O'Neal said. But O'Neal said that after fighting his way through at least five people attempting to hold him back, Smith moved angrily toward Hayes on the driver's side of the vehicles.

Meanwhile, on the passenger side of the vehicles, O'Neal said he was dealing with two men who charged at him. He said the 5-foot-8 Richard Hernandez yanked off his shirt and acted as if he wanted to fight Hayes or O'Neal, a 6-foot-4 martial arts and boxing enthusiast.

"These guys tried to fight past me to get to Mr. Hayes, and all the while Mr. Hayes was under attack (from Smith)," O'Neal testified. "Both these people converged on us simultaneously. ... I don't know how scared (Hernandez) was, but he continued to agitate me and make the situation between Mr. Hayes and Mr. Smith even worse."

Rodrigue read to jurors a transcript of O'Neal's April 21 testimony before an Orleans Parish grand jury. On that day, she said, O'Neal never claimed to be in fear of losing his life until hearing gunshots, not realizing that they were fired by his friend.

"Our safety was in jeopardy from the very start," O'Neal told the grand jury. "Mr. Hayes was under attack, and then I heard gunshots, and then I'm really in fear for my life."

O'Neal said there was no contradiction in his testimony then and now. He already was in fear of his life, then stressed the "really" after hearing the shots, he said.